Within the Rain
by SimGurl
Summary: After discovering that their currently plans may not work out as expected, Pein, the leader of an organization called Akatsuki, heads to Konohagakure to find the jinchuriki of the Kyuubi to check if his suspicions are true. Once there he comes across a situation that causes him to make an important decision that will change the course of the future of the shinobi world.


_**Disclaimer:**_ Masashi Kishimoto is the owner of Naruto. I _do not_ claim to own any characters or the series itself.

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><p>Prologue<p>

It was a cold stormy night in Amegakure. The only sound heard through out the village was the light plopping of the rain beating down on the muddy ground, and the occasional creak from the surrounding buildings pipes.

A menacing looking man was gazing down on the village, seemingly deep in thought. His short orange spiky hair rustled lightly from the breeze slipping in through the partially opened window. Dim light from the street lights below illuminated his face enough to see that it was covered in many piercings: six around his ears, a metal bar through each of his ears, three studs through the bridge of his nose, and two on his bottom lip. His clothing, a black hood-less cloak with deep red clouds, black pants, and back shinobi sandals made him blend in with the shadows in the dim room. His most noticeable feature however, was his eyes. They had a light purple coloring with a ripple-like pattern that spread over the eyeball.

The man's gaze moved away from the window to over his shoulder as the door to his office quietly opened. A beautiful, somber looking woman stepped into the room and quietly shut the door behind her. Like the man, she wore the same hood-less cloak. Her blue hair was partially done up in a bun with a origami rose pinned beside it, and her bangs were styled to frame her slender face. The only other visible clothing that she wore was form fitting blue pants and white high heels. A lone stud in the middle of her lip was the only other noticeable accessory that she had.

Her gray eyes held a hint of worry and her mouth formed into a slight frown. "Have you slept at all?" She asked softly, her voice naturally quiet.

The man, now deemed Pein, turned fully around to face her, and leaned against the wall with his arms crossed. "No. I've had too much on my mind to relax."

She glanced at his desk that was unusually messy with papers. "Did something happen while I was away?" She asked after a moment when he didn't elaborate.

His gaze followed hers. "No, I've been doing some research on the jinchuuriki, the Kyuubi's in general."

She glanced up back at him, and the slight lift of her eyebrow was the only thing that gave away her confusion. Their group, Akatsuki, wasn't planning on hunting down the Kyuubi for a few years yet until they had more powerful shinobi. If she remembered correctly, the jinchuuriki of the Kyuubi was only a small child still, which was another reason why they were waiting. Though they were not the most moral of people any longer, neither would willingly kill a defenseless child if they could find another way around doing so.

"Did you find something that may cause us to need to change our current plans?" Her tone was laced with uncertainty at the idea of needing to do so.

Pein studied her briefly before letting out a small, silent sigh. "Perhaps."

"Perhaps?" She parroted with a small frown.

"From what bit of information we've gathered on the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki, the seal on him was created by a very different method than the past seals that we know of. I've been wondering how it was exactly done and whether or not that's going to affect the removal process when the time comes. If it's too strong than we may end up killing the jinchuuriki during it, which would not only free the beast, but kill us as well. We have next to nothing on information though, so I can't confirm any of my suspicions." He explained. "The seal would need to be studied first to know for sure."

She suddenly didn't like where this was going. Their spy was currently out on an extended mission, so that only left him or her, and she already knew he would never allow her to do such a thing like this alone. That only left him then. "You aren't thinking of going to check it yourself, are you?" She asked worriedly, even though she knew the answer.

"Do you think I'm not capable?" His lips curved into an almost unnoticeable frown. Years ago she would probably have been amused by his affronted expression, but now with those eyes that haunted them both, it only intimidated her. Not that she allowed herself to show it, though.

She instead gave him a small glare. "You know going alone would be foolish, too many things could go wrong. We should just stick to our current plans and deal with it when a better situation arrives."

"This is information we need. There's no point in going through with plans if they're going to be useless in the end. I will be going." He said simply, causing her to become even more irritated.

"And what if you're right, Pein? What if we can't simply extract the Kyuubi from the boy? What will you do then?" She demanded, her calm demeanor rapidly evaporating. It wasn't that she didn't think he could do it, she had the up-most faith in him, however if he got wounded, or worse, captured, than it would all be for nothing. It was highly unlikely that he'd ever lose a fight, but Konohagakure shinobi were not push overs. Their sensei was a good example of that. Though, Jiraiya-sensei and his teammates were more powerful than normal shinobi, she was sure there were others that could be just as formidable if given the chance.

Judging by his silence, he didn't have the answers to her demands. "I'll think of something." He simply after a minute.

She shifted her gaze away from him to the window beside him, and forced herself not to release the stress filled sigh she was keeping at bay. "Madara won't be pleased."

"I realize this, but he will be even more displeased if we do wait and find out the hard way when we could have prevented such issues now." He replied in a tone that clearly said there was no room for further argument, before walking past her and to the door.

"Pein."

He stopped half way through the door and glanced over his shoulder and met her gaze on him. "Yes, Konan?"

"Be careful." Her tone was bare of emotion as was her expression. She didn't want him to see how much she was truly worried. He simply gave her a slight nod before leaving.

Once alone and out of earshot, she allowed a quiet sigh to escape her lips. She had a feeling things were about to get more difficult than either of them imagined. She hoped she was wrong.

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note:<strong> _

First I want to thank everyone how has been patiently waiting for me to finally begin this story. I'm sorry it's taken me so long to finally post something, but there's been a lot going on, and I have been working on the other chapters as well.

For those who may not know, this is a remake of my fic Naruto's Life. It is still up, but I wouldn't suggest reading it as it's very poorly written.

If you have any questions or suggestions for future chapters feel free to review or PM me. I will reply as quickly as I can. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed the prologue.


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